Invasion of the Camry...

[gm4life]

I have for the past 5 years, noticed a significant increase in Camry's in my town Dubuque Iowa. (On the Mighty Mississippi River where WI and IL meet!) But who is buying them, to answer that I took a drive around town to see what kind of people are in Camry's. You must understand Dubuque town within Dubuque county and is one of the few in areas Iowa that tends to vote more liberal due to the high numbers of Irish people and union people working at John Deere a major employeer in the Dubuque Land area. Also we have a large number of highly acclaimed both private and public schools. All my childern are in private schools in Dubuque the private school system in which I have taught for almost 30 years. My church parking lot has changed dramatically, from Buicks and Mercurys to Camry's... Let me explain, the new 2007 Camry has become a popular model with people in the last half of their life, trading fine Impala's (2000-2005), Sables, LeSabres and even some Lumina's in on these wonderful new cars. (hahaha just kidding on the wonderful) The people that are buying these in my community aren't under 50 even 55 for the most part but tend to be older couples/empty nester's. Sitting aside of there Suburban or Silverado is a Camry. For many it is the four cylinder high volume/low priced LE with bolt on wheel covers beige, white or silver variety that seem to sell the most. It is rare to see a V6 model or SE/XLE model in my town. The 2007 Camry in my area has a been a hit but with the wrong crowd, people trading in Buick's on Camry's. Intrestingly enough the new Avalon never caught on well like the Lucerne but whom is driving them? The Buick Lucerne is driven mostly middle-aged males or 55-70 year old couples. Intresting I thought indeed. The car buying groups are switching the old farts that would be buying Impalas are buying Camry's and more young people are buying the Impala's. I see more and more young people in G6's, Impala's, Lucerne's and even DTS's. While the Camry seems to be attracting a group of buyers in there golden years but why? That is what I will never understand, as old farts continue to buy Camry's I will laugh and wonder why and let Chevy/GM reap the good things that come from younger owners. Not to say I don't see old people in Impala's just less and less of them... So is this good or bad? I say it is some of both anyone noticed anything similar?

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

It's the same way here...

My town is a mix of uber liberals and retirees (all moving in from other places) Most of the old people drive the "my car" or some sort of volume Lexus like the ES or RX.

The people who are buying the Camry are the older, "I'm stuck in the 70's & 80's and hate Detroit" set. these are the same people that have to be home daily to see the evening news and then believe everything they see on that news as gospel.

The reason I mention that is; in Sociology, one of the things they will teach you is that OLDER people tend to watch and TRUST the media more than younger people. In fact, some of them actually believe most of what the media feeds them. That's in sharp contrast to younger generations which have almost turned on the media entirely, not trusting or believing the majority of what they see/read. This makes logical sense considering that when these people were younger the news WAS ACTUAL NEWS and not the watered down tabloid-like rumor mill that it is today. The news used to report on issues that matter through investigative reporting whereas now it pretty much gets by on soundbites and gossip (EXAMPLE: Look at all the coverage of Anna Nicole--- It's tabloid style trash, not news.)

MY POINT: 1) These are the people that actually believe that the Joe Shmoe on amateur.com has given the camry an accurate and true rating over everything else on the market. 2) These are also the people who led the fight against Detroit when it made not-so-stellar products and are one of the last "product biased" generations.

Unfortunately though, they are not the LAST biased generation and they still control a lot of $$$$. I'd say the boomers are the last truely biased generation, generation X was exposed to some bad products but at the same time a lot of them were still forming opinions during the truck/suv boom (That Detroit owned) as well.

Edited June 25, 2007 by FUTURE_OF_GM

[Robert Hall]

All the Camry owners that I personally know are in their 20s and 30s..they seem extremely popular amongst men and women in my demographic (well educated computer industry professionals, usually those w/ kids...a popular configuration seems to be a Camry or Accord for the guy and a Sienna or Odessey or Pilot for the wife).. all moved here from other states or countries..

They are a popular car around here (metro/suburban Denver), seem to attract men and women of various age groups..I certainly see more of them around day to day than the equivalent Big 3 models.

Edited June 25, 2007 by moltar

[gm4life]

Future you made some excellent points although are town as a fair amount of folks who will only buy American in that age group I know a couple whom only buys Fords. I know some people who are very loyal to our popular local Chevy dealer whom has been there since 1926 I believe. So these people naturally drive Chevy's but when Toyota came to town late 80's it all began to change. Some boomer's like me drive domestic and value that but others don't they are liberals and think a 4 cylinder Camry is the best for the enviroment so do some republicans too, they are more often in a Lexus or Acura maybe Buick or Lincoln tho. It has been very intresting some people still insist on buying American, not that I don't see young people in a Camry but most often they are in Accords or Mazada 6's. Also the Equinox, Torrent, Freestyle have all been big hits in my town with the under 50 crowd. I see people with a Camaccord and a Equinox or Freestyle in the garage also. The Enclave, Outlook and Aciada are starting to catch on as well. Also I have seen more and more Silvy's and Serria's around... I still thought Toyota Camry's would be dominated by young people and in fact it has been more old, and more young going to domestics. My question remains is this good or bad?

[AxelTheRed]

Well, Flint's a big GM town, so Toyota doesn't really pull much weight around here. I think as far as popularity goes, the Camry ranks either 24th or 26th in the area. GM pulls down numbers 1-9 and the Fusion comes in at 10.

Edited June 25, 2007 by AxelTheRed

[Ravenfreak13]

In newer camry's you do see a lot of older people where as the early 90's camrys are driven by younger people.

[gm4life]

Raven I agree I see younger people in older ones...

[bowtie_dude]

Dude, come to Lexington, KY. I guarantee we have a higher percentage of Camry's in the city than anywhere else in the country. Well, maybe except for Georgetown.

Edited June 25, 2007 by bowtie_dude

[gm4life]

Really that is said in the south none the less.

[mustang84]

I've noticed the same thing...I see a ton of older people (over 55, in many cases well over) especially in some of the smaller towns where Mercury and Buick are still fairly common but are starting to give way to Camrys. I can't help but think that the children of the generation below them may have had some influence on them purchasing a Camry ("Mom, you're not getting a domestic...I don't want you getting stranded on the highway at night").

But I rarely ever see young people in Camrys (and more and more, Toyotas in general). People in my age range or older seem to be going for the new GMs, new Fords, Nissan, VW, and Honda and Acura to a lesser extent. Nissan Altimas are popular among the 30s-to-middle age crowd around here, probably due to the performance.

I rarely see new Accords here; I see tons of old Accords (mid-late 90s) but rarely any new ones. In fact, I see far more new Civics than I do Accords.

The Fusion and Impala have their share of old people in them (less more-so for the Fusion), but far more younger people are behind the wheel than the Camry from what I see on my commutes. I see tons of young, blonde hot moms behind the wheels of new Mercurys so the Jill ads must be doing their work. :AH-HA_wink:

Pontiac is still king among the 20somethings here; a recently-graduated friend of mine just bought a Pontiac G6 and another bought a G6 a few months ago.

Lincoln is making a comeback in Des Moines, especially the MKZ and MKX. I see them quite often on the roads.

Honda and Acura must sell well everywhere but here, because I hardly ever see new Hondas and Acuras on the road. Maybe Des Moines just doesn't have that many Honda dealerships or soemthing, I don't know. In fact, I can't remember the last time I saw a new Acura.

[gm4life]

Yeah I was in Des Monies in January this year and saw lots of old farts with Camry's too. I see it to a lesser extent in small towns in Iowa and Wisconson. They have local Ford and Chevy dealer that is where everyone gets there cars.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

It's seems that a lot of the "conservative church goers" here, the majority in fact, have converted to Toyotas. The younger crowd seems to go for VWs, Civics, Focuses and B-Segment cars. Sadly and not surprisingly I'm seeing a lot of Turdras here as well.

In Charlotte it's a different story though. NEVER see a Turdra and in the university area most of the youth are driving a nice mix of imported nd domestic. The G6 has really taken off (As I mentioned in the thread that evok tried to shoot down, no surprise there) I also see some G5s and a bunch of Cobalts. The Fusion is a big hit and I'm beginning to see some Auras. Various Mazdas are all over the place and Nissan seems to be pretty popular too as well as the new Civic. I'm betting the Astra will be hot ***IF*** Gm plays it's cards right (Which it probably wont)

[gm4life]

I am a church goer and I see a mix of domestic's and imports but less older people in domestics, they all have Camry's even Corolla's that are getting fleeted like nuts. *So much for Toyota resale!* Alot of younger well to due people have Z71 Suburbans, Tahoes or the same in LT or LTZ trim. The G6 has taken off, I thought alot were fleeted? But that is good news I hope the next G6 is FWD and not RWD on the Alpha or whatever it will be called. They need a volume model or two (above 100,000 sales annually!). I personally love the G6 but it needs the 4 cylinder and 6spd. auto like the Malibu is getting.

Edited June 25, 2007 by gm4life

[Camino LS6]

Here too, Camry drivers tend to be at or approaching retirement age. Scion is even worse (some youth brand,eh?) I don't remember ever seeing an Xb driven by anyone under 50.

[regfootball]

3 blue hairs in camrys pissed me off on the roadway this wkd.

generally i am also seeing that most toyota drivers are AGING. many camrys i see are people 50+. a coworker bought a camry last week. i should give him major crap, he's like 31 and now he's driving an old man's car.

the mid sizer with the youngest demographic i see is the fusion. generally late 20's, 30's and early 40's. The old farts drive the 500's....

The Auras i've seen have younger folks.

Chargers and Magnums have young buyers

Lucerne unfortunately is the blue hair group.

No one drives a LaCrosse so there's no way to tell what age that group is.

Accords seem to be that late 40's demographic.

Mazda6 has a really young demographic.

Edited June 25, 2007 by regfootball

[gm4life]

I have seen many 30 and 40 year old males in Lucerne CXL's and CXS's. Old farts drive CX's with cloth and a bench seat.

Edited June 25, 2007 by gm4life

[bowtie_dude]

Really that is said in the south none the less.

Well, they're built right up the road. So you have the people that work there and their families getting the Toyota discount, plus there's a lot of instilled pride in the product, so they buy them in support.

Though that doesn't mean EVERYONE who works at Toyota buys Toyotas. My former boss, the Chief Information Officer at a local business, drove a Volvo and her husband, who was a manager at Toyota, drove a Chevrolet pickup.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Dude, come to Lexington, KY. I guarantee we have a higher percentage of Camry's in the city than anywhere else in the country. Well, maybe except for Georgetown.

It's Camry country in these parts, a'course.

Thank goodness the Corvette is our saving grace.

There aren't that many Camrys in Berea, though. I'm now what? Thirty miles south of you, give or take? I see a quite a few G6s though (it's odd, as soon as we picked up one, they started appearing in droves ... was the same way with the Impala, too).

Edited June 25, 2007 by YellowJacket894

[bowtie_dude]

It's Camry country in these parts, a'course.

Thank goodness the Corvette is our saving grace.

There aren't that many Camrys in Berea, though. I'm now what? Thirty miles south of you, give or take? I see a quite a few G6s though (it's odd, as soon as we picked up one, they started appearing in droves ... was the same way with the Impala, too).

The further south you get, especially southeast, the more common domestic vehicles get. Though the amount of Toyotas and Hondas in hillbilly country has been growing at an alarming rate as of late.

[mustang84]

I forgot all about Dodge, Chrysler, and Jeep but they all seem to sell to a fairly young and middle age crowd. Nissan and cars like the Charger and Magnum seem to hit that late 30s, mid 40s sweet spot where they aren't quite old enough to kill the car's reputation but they have a decent amount of money and purchasing power. I think a lot of it is because they have the performance and looks to back them up. I think the Malibu will do the same when it comes out, but the Fusion needs more power. I see Nissan in many cases as the 1960s Mercury and Pontiac of this generation...true mid-level performance cars that still retain some sensibility like four doors and interior space. Pontiac will get some of that back with the G8. Mercury needs a freaking performance car of any kind...give the brand some balls back. I didn't know it, but apparently the Marauder was supposed to get the Mustang Cobra 4V supercharged 4.6 but Elana Ford killed it because she didn't like performance cars.

[balthazar]

I know only 2 people who own camries- one aunt who is 57 and a guy 48-50 who hunts behind my property. Only person I knew who owned a corolla was my father-in-law, who owned it when he passed away at 79. I sold it to a guy about 45 who was buying it for his parents.

[Ravenfreak13]

This area is rampant with camrys. I noticed that when we go to the cemetary, most people(older) are still driving buicks(highest percentage in there), mercurys, hyundais, pt cruisers, caddilacs, and the rest are a mix.

[Ravenfreak13]

there are atleast 7 camry owners on my block alone.

[gm4life]

New 2007 Camry owners? Thank God you have the Seb and Saturn...

[Robert Hall]

New 2007 Camry owners? Thank God you have the Seb and Saturn...

I did a quick check around the office parking lot today at lunch... 5 '07 Camrys (2 hybrids), 10 previous gen, 1/2 dozen of the gen before that, 1/2 dozen of the gen before that (Taurus style from the mid '90s), 2 early '90s ones.. as far as other cars, 6 Priuses, 1 BMW 6-series convertible (CEO?), 3 Minis (including a Works S), a black Z06, a few Mustangs (from '65 to '07), a sharp black 4th gen Camaro SS, and countless SUVs of every type...

Again, being in the tech industry, most of the Camry drivers are likely in their 20s and 30s (at least all the Camry owners I know are that age).

Speaking of how certain cars appeal across generations, maybe I'm getting old (I do turn 37 on Thurs) but lately I've been lusting after Town Cars... esp. loaded Signature Limiteds w/ sunroof, NAV, THX sound, etc...seems like it would be a great commuter car (and get better mileage than my Grand Cherokee).

Edited June 26, 2007 by moltar

[gm4life]

There is something elegant about Town Cars. That is alot of new Camry's and Prius's enough to make me sick.

Edited June 26, 2007 by gm4life

[Robert Hall]

There is something elegant about Town Cars.

Yeah, they look great in silver, black, dark gray, maroon..a large car, but understated.. after having one as a rental for a few days last month (and occasionally driving my folks ones in the past), I can see why my dad liked them (he bought Town Cars in the '80s and '90s).... I really find them appealing--last of the traditional RWD, BOF, V8 American-style luxury land yachts, and the THX sound option is great.. very smooth, quiet, comfortable, safe...maybe just what I need in a daily driver commuter car.

[gm4life]

Yeah I would love to see you in one or a DTS.